aircraft carrier

A Hawkeye reconnaissance plane sits on the deck of the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Gulf on Monday. A Rafale fighter jet took off from the warship in the morning as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis.

Aviation boatswain’s mate 2nd class Tyler Stives from Spring, Texas, inspects a catapult after a launch aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during annual exercise 2013. The carrier took part in a naval drill with Japan in waters off southern Japan, just days after it took part in relief operations in the Philippines. The US Navy would not confirm the coordinates but said the drill took place about 300 km southeast of the Okinawa islands. This is in the general vicinity, though not within, the airspace defence zone that China established last week.